Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1887-01-12

making sufficiently bouy ant to keel
the boy's nose above water. lie APP
peared TO be less disturbed by the adj.
venture than any ~ the passengers
and when he was drawn ont. the first
words he uttered were; Didn't hole
on like n good feilowP' There seems
to be special providence watching over
the mischieyious boy, and he Is certainly
the favorite of fortune, for when he
comes To be a man, nearly all the big
| hings of the world arc dDn3 b. him
At Baton Rouge singular incident
occurred. The beat was tied up to the
bank for some purpose just above the
city, and some article was accidentally
dropped overheard. which the mate
thought he could T., cover with rope
and hook. Whilst hc was fishing for il
his hook got entan led in something al
the bottom, and, b1ing unable TO pull
il loose himself, he called several deck
hands to his assistance. As they gave
- long pull, strong pull and pull
altogether something broke loose and
they all tumblcd over backwards in a
heap.
was found caught in the hook piece OF
heavy gold chain about five feet long.
II was about the size of an ordinary dog
chain, and was very roughly and clum-
silly made, as if by an ordinary black
smith. The fragment weighed over
three pounds, and what it's use was no
one could tell. II was suggested as
probable that large gold cross was at
tachcd 10 the end left in the river, but
as the boat remained only few minutes
at the landing, there was no time to
make Investigations.
| had always heard that the river at
New Orleans was higher than the city.
and as we ncared that famous Southern
port looked with some interest to see
such curious sight, and was quite dis
appointed at being unable to discern
anything of the kind. / afterwards dis
covered that il was only when looking
towards it from the city that tho river
is readily seon to be the higher.
After discharging his passengers and
cargo at New Orleans, Captain ID. con-
cluded to make trip up the Wachita
river, for the navigation of which his
boat was peculiarly fitted, and as | was
bound for no place in particular, con-
Guided TO 20 along. Tho Wachita
emptics into Red river few miles above
the confluence cf tho latter with the
Mississippi, and its source is in the
northern part of Arkansas. 1t is one of
the most remarkable of rivers, and OH !,
first view it seems strange that it should
be called river at all. 1t has much
more the appearance of an artificial
canal. The country it runs through is
for the greater part almost on dead
level, and the stream is so narrow that
at almost any part of it one might jump
ashore from either guard of the boat
II is always "bank full" and the grass
on the margin hangs over into the
water. There are but occasional points
where boats can pass each other. Sig
mails are always given there with the
whistle, and if responded to the boat
hugs the shore closely and waits for the
other boat topass. The water moves so
slowly as to appear still, and it is hard
to conceive that such narrow, sluggish
stream can have any depth, but it has,
and novice is surprised TO find plum
met reaching down twenty or thirty
feet. In some places tho stream is so
narrow that the limbs of trees on the
opposite banks interlock, and for this
reason the boats chimneys are always
constructed with hinges and appliances
by which they can be laid upon the hur-
ricane roof at short notice. From this
popularity very remarkable incident
occurred, in which one of our passen-
gers made narrow escape from sudden
death He was seated in barber-chair
being shaved, and the barber was Just
approaching the climax of one of his
best stories when crash camo dead limb
through the wheelhousc, tearing away
it and the barber shop and passing d.
rectly through the arms of the chair in
which the passenger was seated. When
Inc boat passed from under, the chair,
with the man still in il, was left dang
ling from the dead limb.
He was so overcome by fright that
when he was being extricated he was
unable to afford the least cooperation,
and had TO be handled like dead man.
The water of the Wachita is unfit for
drinking, and good water is scarce all
along its course. To make up for this
deficiency boats trading up that stream
usually carry numerous casks of cheap
kind of clarct wine, which is free to the
passengers in moderation. The deck
hands and roustabouts, who are not
included in the claret ring, banker
after it, only, perhaps, because they
arc excluded from it, and would
probably grumblc if compelled to drink
1t. But they were determined TO have
4 M strh hnr ie roll L
way" is an old saying, and they hit on
a most ingenious device for tapping the
claret casks. These were stored in a
little room on the upper deck near the
pantry, Immediately over some of the
hunks OF the deckhands, and the device
was a small, thin gun-barrel with the
breech-pin taken out and the muzzlc
filed into saw-teeth, like a surgeons
trcphine. In the still hours of the
night they bored in the flooring under
one of the casks, the gun-barrel was in
serted and the cask trepanned, the wine
running through the gun-barrel into
bucket held beneath. Two casks had
been emptied in this way before the
trick was discovered, and Captain d.
was so much amused at the ingenuity of
~ sh't ~ tci hOiO
after the perpetrators.
After ascending the Wachita some
distance, very singular feature of the
river lie reached, il doubling back and
forth on itself six or seven times, form
ing what is known as the Thirteen
Points. The turns of the bends are so
sudden that no boat beyond a certain
length, and that a short one, can pass
through. Captain D.'s boat touched
the shore at both stern and bow all the
way around at every turn. The dis
lance around these points must be about
forty or fifty miles, and after the last
one the river makes a final double until
1t comes within quarter of mile,
overland, of the first one. Midway be-
tween those two points was house of
entertainment where passengers usually
got of and spent the time playing bill
lizards and nine-pins until the boat
made its tedious trip around, which is n
number of hours. Enclosed i'm these
coiIc nf tho ,.iyo, xtyoro MANY fine ,,lo M